Tuesday, March 27, 2007

English essay: My first flight

Flying in the air like a bird was my dream ever since I was a small child. But I did not ever get a chance to fly in an aeroplane. When I was a little boy in my native village, my father died, and I had to look after my family. Bringing up my three younger sisters and marrying them off required a dowry. The strain on my finances did not allow me to fulfill my dream of flying in an aeroplane.However, now, at fifty years of age, I can finally fulfill my dream. My son, who works in a multinational company, has sent me a ticket for me to go and meet him in the city of Bengaluru. The ticket was an air-ticket – from Patna to Bengaluru on Air Deccan flight no. 420.I arrived in Patna from my village by train. From the station I took a taxi to the airport. I was extremely nervous about how the airport would be. I hoped that they would not refuse to let me on the plane because of my rustic looks.However, when I arrived at the airport, all my fears were set to rest, because I saw hat it was not much different from a railway station. There were a lot of people who looked like it was the first time on an airplane for them too. I now took courage – surely they would not throw all of us out of the plane?However, looking at the vast multitudes of people I began to wonder how all the people would be accommodated on the plane. Panic seized me, I knew that I had to get on the plane as soon as possible.Looking around, I saw a person sitting behind a counter with the same logo as my ticket. I presented my ticket to him. He looked ai it and told me in Hindi to a place where there was another counter with the same logo. When I arrived there, the lady behind the counter asked me for my name and other details, and them gave me an important-looking piece of paper, and told me to go to a place called “Security Check”.As soon as I reached the place, I was scared. I saw two policemen with big guns standing on either side of me. In front of me, another policeman was asking a man some questions with a table-tennis racquet shaped thing in his hand. I started shaking, because I knew that the policeman would take me to jail. I closed my eyes and prayed to all the Gods that I knew of, to save me. My prayers were answered, it seems, for after making some beeping noises, the man and his table-tennis racquet told me to go on.Relieved, I now stood in a line to board the plane. We were put on a bus and taken to the plane. How large the plane was! How terrifyingly it roared! I knew that this thing would not be able to move on it’s own. Maybe the passengers would have to push the plane! Maybe that is why there were so many passengers – not all of them would get to sit in the plane.I, then, climbed the stairs and went inside the plane. I suddenly felt cold. A lady took my slip of paper, and took me to my seat. I had been prepared to fight for my seat just like in the ‘Jansatta Express’ from Bhagalpur station, but I now saw that there were enough seats for everyone.The lady then gave me some cotton. “For your ears”, she said, and then showed me how to lock the seat belt. I felt sorry for the kind lady. Everyone knows that ears do not need cotton, and in any case, my ears were clean enough (I had cleaned them before the journey).Then the plane started shaking, and I felt scared again. Perhaps, the plane was going to throw me off! I held on to my seat wit all my might. After a long time, it started moving. Suddenly we started going very fast, and suddenly, the ground fell away. My ears started paining (I had thrown away the cotton). Soon we were above the clouds. I looked at the white sea below. After some time, the scenery became dull and boring, so I fell asleep.When I woke up, the plane had started landing. My ears started paining again. I tried to look for my cotton, but in vain. The plane landed on the ground, and my kind lady’s voice could be heard saying in Hindi, “ Please stay seated. We don’t want any of our passengers to arrive before the plane does.”By now, the plane had come to a halt, and I said goodbye to the kind lady, and came out of the plane. I felt very hot quite suddenly, almost as if the plane was somehow was colder than the rest of the place. I knew that was impossible, and as I walked towards my son, I thought that I must be getting dementia in my old age….